• A senior White House official assured Jewish-American leaders that the administration was not trying to force a confrontation with the Israelis over settlements. Read the need for that assurance as you wish. [Ben Smith]
• On Eric Cantor’s assurances to Prime Minister Netanyahu, James Traub writes: “It’s extraordinary to think that any country’s security can be ‘synonymous’ with that of the United States.” [FP]
• Glenn Beck and Iran see eye-to-eye on George Soros. [The Lede]
• Fethullah Gülen, the reclusive leader of a Turkish Islamic movement, is profiled. [TNR]
• The National Museum of American Jewish History opened in Philly. [NYT]
• Contributing editor Josh Cohen’s suggestions for writers borrows from Bluto Blutarski’s suggestion to Flounder: “My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.” [The Paris Review]
It gets better: The Orthodox version.
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.